Brownlee v. Rubaicaba

Background

Terrence Brownlee, a state prisoner, filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and applied to proceed without paying the filing fee. The court treated the application under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). That rule generally prevents a prisoner from proceeding without paying the filing fee after three prior federal actions or appeals were dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or for failure to state a claim, unless the prisoner shows an imminent danger of serious physical injury.

The court identified three prior actions that it said qualified as strikes because they had been dismissed for failure to state a claim. The opinion also states that the Ninth Circuit regarded those three cases as strikes and had previously revoked Brownlee’s fee-free status after he failed to pay the filing fee in an appeal.

Order to Show Cause

The court ordered Brownlee to show why the three-strikes restriction should not apply. The order also told him that he could avoid dismissal by paying the filing fee by the deadline. Brownlee filed no response. He did not pay the filing fee, show that any of the three prior dismissals did not qualify as strikes, show that he faced imminent danger of serious physical injury, or otherwise explain why the action should not be dismissed.

Ruling

The court denied Brownlee’s application to proceed without paying the filing fee. It dismissed the civil-rights action without prejudice to Brownlee bringing his claims in a new paid complaint. The clerk was directed to terminate pending motions, enter judgment in favor of the defendants, and close the case.

This was a procedural ruling about Brownlee’s eligibility to proceed without paying the filing fee; the opinion did not decide the underlying civil-rights claims.